First Step Taken, _check_, Need guide on where to take the s

[Canfora]

That's not fair... :) I'm on the edge of my seat!
What do you mean by this:

I get it now, Thank You!

[shibumi-mind]

:D I'm comfortable just being, I guess. It is sooo simple. I was way overthinking everything. It seems a little odd with the sounds, and conversations. Almost like raw input.

[Canfora]

Enjoy :) I'll post again tomorrow. There is still a thing or three I would like to speak about.

[shibumi-mind]

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I did experience something like this last October, but it was more intense, and I fought it off. 8-| It was too weird. When it happened again it lasted much longer. Right now it is not sooo intense. Just comfortable, and with the understanding, with a foundation. Things are what they are and no manager in sight. Thank you for your patience on this.

Rick

[Canfora]

Rick. You're aware that all kind of experiences come and go, yes?
So what makes you think, other than this experience that you're now having (enjoy!), that you have seen there is no you?

[shibumi-mind]

Sandra,

I think it's just an understanding that has taken hold, thanks to your persistent guidance. I wasn't able to control that understanding by thinking about it, as you so aptly said. That just took me around in circles. By just reviewing the facts that you went over and over....and over, and verifying their correctness, I guess my subconscious must have taken a leap of faith. I didn't do anything. I just is what it is now. Just that.

Thank You Again.

[Canfora]

Ahhhh.... good morning and thank you so much for the virtual hug!

I have asked the other guides to have a look at our conversation and here are 2 questions from one of them:

Are you 100% sure that there is no you? Was there ever?

How is free will exerted and choices are being made?

Looking forward to your answer.

[shibumi-mind]

Are you 100% sure that there is no you?

Yes. All I can say now is "being"

Was there ever?

After understanding this reality, It was just a mental construction that happens to our species.

How is free will exerted and choices are being made?

That is a good and complex question. It seems weird to say this, but it has to be almost random, or as close to that as possible. If there is no I, then who or what is there to exert that free will? Our being has imprinted patterns of behavior, customs, and genetic dispositions, therefore it has to be the consciousness within us using the information we have at hand. But what is consciousness? Is it totally random? Will I loose control and lift a hand without control while I am walking through the airport? Will my legs randomly start walking at a busy street to this body's peril? Of course not. Our consciousness has a vast storage of what is appropriate to do in different circumstances so it seems we are on "cruise control". I say randomness has a part because we can't control what thought we will have next, but there are filters and a sense of what should be done. I may have to think about this some more, but that is how I feel about this at the moment.

[Canfora]

Just to be sure, are you saying you don't experience a you making decisions?
(even if you see what we label as decisions happening...)
Can you please describe the process of making a decision?
Look at simple actions/decisions: going left or right, what to eat, what to say in a conversation.
Things that you can see with ease while they are going on.
And share how you see a decision happening despite the nonexistence of a you.

[shibumi-mind]

Just to be sure, are you saying you don't experience a you making decisions?

No. Which is strange. I usually find myself less focused than this. Perhaps we should revisit this question several days from now as well but at the moment, I don't see how this would change.

Can you please describe the process of making a decision?

Ok this is a good exercise. And...I can't explain it. I'm just writing at the moment now, hmmm.

And share how you see a decision happening despite the nonexistence of a you.

Well I understand the question. I am unable to put into words how things are happening. As you suggested, turning your head to look left or right as an example. It can not be more simple, yes? BTW: I looked left. My best guess based on what I mentioned to you earlier, it's a bit of randomness and a bit of choosing the data that I have stored in my brain. If I was out hiking for example, and I heard a growl to my right, I would immediately look to my right to find out what was there. That would be yet another type of "pattern" that is in my physiology and yours. Instinct. This body does not want to become lunch for something else, because it would HURT a lot. So In that case I would turn to the right, and fight or flight autocratically. So to imagine that I would hear this sound, and then have some "self" go through a decision process, seems unimaginable to me anymore. I would just do. The right thing? Maybe or maybe not, but that is all the information I have at the moment.

Thank you for this exercise, this somehow clarifies a lingering feeling of what if having an illusion of a manager was of some benefit. But I see now that since it is an illusion, and it has all the same data, reflexes, instinct that the consciousness has, why go there. Does this make sense? I'm sorry if I'm not being clear. This seems so new, but also very correct to me at the moment.

[Canfora]

Thank you for your answers!
It seems to me that you are thinking about the whys instead of looking?
Notice the need to know the whys when it happens and if possible let it go.
What we are aiming at, is the plain seeing and report of what is going on (instead of focusing in why you think it may be going on).

So, have a go with this little exercise and tell me what you see:

Move a hand up and down.

What happens when you read these words?

Does a hand move?
If it does, what can you see causing the movement of the hand?
Is moving or not moving the hand being decided by a you?

Feel free to also inquiry on your own this control and decisions topic, and share what you discover! You seem to be capable of steering the wheels of this bicycle alone now :)

[shibumi-mind]

Sandra,

>>Does a hand move?

Yes

>>If it does, what can you see causing the movement of the hand?

Nothing

>>Is moving or not moving the hand being decided by a you?

Not at all

I will do a few more as you suggested by just looking as you suggest. A strange thing happened yesterday. I was invited out to dinner and had some wine. Normally that just ruins my ability to be present, but that did not happen. That was a pleasant surprise.

Is it ok if I ride without hands? ;)

[Canfora]

Nicely done with the hand exercise.

I will do a few more as you suggested by just looking as you suggest. A strange thing happened yesterday. I was invited out to dinner and had some wine. Normally that just ruins my ability to be present, but that did not happen. That was a pleasant surprise.

Isn't it surprising when we start noticing how we don't match with our ideas of how we are?

Is it ok if I ride without hands? ;)

Of course it is. I'll keep some bandages at hand :)

Looking forward to your next post!

[shibumi-mind]

Hello Sandra,

It's quite interesting to have this perspective. I am able to be present more of the day. It gets exciting a bit while driving though, so I am turning the music off in the car for now.

Thank You

[Canfora]

Hi Rick,

It's quite interesting to have this perspective. I am able to be present more of the day. It gets exciting a bit while driving though, so I am turning the music off in the car for now.

Tell me more. Can you describe this perspective? I think I know what you mean and I also did it while driving (please be careful!) but I would like to read your description of what happens while it is going on, just to be sure if it is the same kind of experience.

Hug!